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Caroline Abendsen
Paul is a young, graceful, successful Japanese bureaucrat who is married to Betty. Paul is highly educated—he reads and listens to a vast variety of music—and is fascinated by U.S. culture from before the war. Though he does so with tact, Paul’s suggestion that Childan mass-produce the Edfrank pieces is (at least to Childan) his way of suggesting that Americans can no longer make true art. However, Paul takes a more complex view of the world than many other characters in the novel; he is simultaneously disdainful of Childan and deeply moved by the art Childan sells, and he seems to want Childan to take some sort of pride in American craftsmanship.
Paul Kasoura Quotes in The Man in the High Castle
The The Man in the High Castle quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Kasoura or refer to Paul Kasoura. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
Childan nodded. No contemporary American art; only the past could be represented here, in a store such as his.
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Chapter 7 Quotes
[Childan] thought, Here I am, not invited in a business context, but a dinner guest. He had of course taken special pains with his attire; at least he could be confident of his appearance. My appearance, he thought. Yes, that is it. How do I appear? There is no deceiving anyone; I do not belong here. On this land that white men cleared and built one of their finest cities. I am an outsider in my own country.
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I did it again, Robert Childan informed himself. Impossible to avoid the topic. Because it’s everywhere, in a book I happen to pick up or a record collection, in these bone napkin rings—loot piled up by the conquerors. Pillage from my people.
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“Thank you,” [Betty] said, obviously pleased. “Doing my best to be authentic . . . for instance, carefully shopping in teeny-tiny American markets down along Mission Street. Understand that’s the real McCoy.”
You cook the native foods to perfection, Robert Childan thought. What they say is true: your powers of imitation are immense. Apple pie, Coca-Cola, stroll after the movie, Glenn Miller . . . you could paste together out of tin and rice paper a complete artificial America. Rice-paper Mom in the kitchen, rice-paper Dad reading the newspaper. Rice-paper pup at his feet. Everything.
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Chapter 11 Quotes
Life is short, [Childan] thought. Art, or something not life, is long, stretching out endless, like concrete worm. Flat, white, unsmoothed by any passage over or across it. Here I stand. But no longer.
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Paul Kasoura Character Timeline in The Man in the High Castle
The timeline below shows where the character Paul Kasoura appears in The Man in the High Castle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
A beautiful young couple ( Mr. Kasoura and Mrs. Kasoura) enter Childan’s store; they admire his stock, recognizing that his displays are...
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...sensing an opportunity, offers to help them furnish their home with objects from his store. Mr. Kasoura and Mrs. Kasoura agree, and Childan is elated at the opportunity to impress them, as...
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Chapter 7
...wabi—an untranslatable Japanese word about finding beauty in simplicity. As they sit down to drinks, Paul and Betty Kasoura instruct Childan to call them by their first names. Betty explains that...
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Childan presents Paul and Betty with a scrimshaw from an old U.S. whaling ship, and the couple is...
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Paul Kasoura discusses the news of Bormann’s death. Today, von Schirach has been placed under house...
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...these illicit thoughts, he brings up The Grasshopper Lies Heavy—he has a noticed that the Kasouras have a copy. Paul offers to lend the book to Childan (whom he calls “Robert”)...
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The conversation turns to music, as Paul is a big fan of jazz. Childan explains that he does not listen to “Negro...
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Paul asks Childan about another American book he is reading, Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts. West’s book...
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With a newfound sense of confidence, Childan takes a pedicab back from the Kasouras. A pinoc (white government employee) is sitting in Childan’s apartment upon his return. The pinoc...
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Chapter 9
...Kasoura with a small pin from the Edfrank collection, patching up his relationship with the Kasouras and introducing the line to the Japanese public. Childan then decides that it is too...
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Chapter 11
At 11 o’clock, Childan heads over to Paul Kasoura’s office, which is just as well-decorated as the Kasouras’ home. Paul greets Childan with...
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Paul surprises Childan, informing him that he never gave the pin to Betty at all—instead, he...
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Paul tells Childan that the piece has a special kind of spiritual balance. Though it does...
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Paul celebrates the Edfrank jewelry as “authentically a new thing on the face of the world.”...
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Surprisingly, Paul tells Childan that he must “meditate” and figure out what to do with this radically...
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Before Childan can leave, Paul tells him one last thing: one of Paul’s colleagues, an importer/exporter who works mostly in...
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Childan asks Paul for advice. Paul explains that while he himself cannot get pleasure from anything mass-produced—he wants...
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After going back and forth, Childan tells Paul that he will meet with the importer. But to Childan’s surprise, Paul does not seem...
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Childan has an epiphany: the whole thing has been “a cruel dismissal of American efforts,” Paul’s tactful way of proving that American art is “worthless.” Childan reflects that this is how...
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His voice cracking, Childan tells Paul that he is “humiliated” by the whole ordeal. Childan explains that he is proud of...
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